1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of a microcrystalline semiconductor film and a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device. Note that, in this specification, a semiconductor device refers to a semiconductor element itself or a device including a semiconductor element. As such a semiconductor element, a transistor (e.g., a thin film transistor) is given, for example. A display device such as a liquid crystal display device is also included in the category of a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A microcrystalline semiconductor film has been actively developed as a semiconductor film which can be applied to a thin film transistor. A microcrystalline semiconductor film can be formed by a plasma CVD method, for example. When a microcrystalline semiconductor film is formed by a plasma CVD method, a film property can be controlled by conditions of plasma discharge, for example. Here, a film property refers to crystallinity of a film, uniformity of distribution of a substance included in a film, planarity of a film surface, and the like.
A microcrystalline semiconductor film can be applied to not only a thin film transistor but also a photoelectric conversion device. As a manufacturing method of a photoelectric conversion device having a high photoelectric conversion efficiency, in which microcrystalline silicon is used for a microcrystalline semiconductor film, the one disclosed in Patent Document 1 is given, for example.
Patent Document 1 discloses a manufacturing method of a stacked photoelectric conversion device in which first to third photoelectric conversion layers each having a p-i-n junction and being formed of a silicon-based semiconductor are stacked in this order from the light incident side; the first photoelectric conversion layer and the second photoelectric conversion layer have i-type amorphous layers formed of an amorphous silicon-based semiconductor and the third photoelectric conversion layer has an i-type microcrystalline layer formed of a microcrystalline silicon-based semiconductor; and the i-type amorphous layer of the first photoelectric conversion layer is formed by continuous discharge plasma and the i-type amorphous layer of the second photoelectric conversion layer is formed by pulsed discharge plasma.